Im going to buy a horse now

In the mane i wasn't impressed ,left me a little colt!

Why the long face?

Too late ! The horse has bolted !

Does that count as 1hp?

so........

something has been on the back of my mind for years, and never made sense.

i tried to 'skurf' behind a 12hp dinghy once upon a time. it didnt really work, not enough power.

i now see that just "one horse power" is required to tow a person on the plane. so i do realise that in my experiment all those years back there was more mass than just me and the surfboard... there was a tinpot dinghy, a skipper in the dinghy... ok a fuel can, a few beers... the motor itself... surely if we throw in one more horse power for the skipper chap, and another for the other stuff... no make it 2 damn it...

does it not stand to reason that you need no more than say 4 or 5 horsepower on a wee dinghy to get a chap on the plane (on a reasonably chunky surfboard mind you).

so when people tell me they have a boat and i say "woohoo, lets go wakeboarding!!" and they tell me that they only have a 20hp motor... whats that all about???

has the "horsepower" reference lost all relevance to the actual pull a real horse can produce???

i see boats with 200 horsepower. imagine a mob of 200 real live horses, and then imagine harnessing them up to a 20 foot boat.... surely they would tear the fkn thing apart???

or am i ignorant of the difference between 'real output' and 'torque' and 'equine flatulence'....???

anyone got a clue???

craggers said...

so........

something has been on the back of my mind for years, and never made sense.

i tried to 'skurf' behind a 12hp dinghy once upon a time. it didnt really work, not enough power.

i now see that just "one horse power" is required to tow a person on the plane. so i do realise that in my experiment all those years back there was more mass than just me and the surfboard... there was a tinpot dinghy, a skipper in the dinghy... ok a fuel can, a few beers... the motor itself... surely if we throw in one more horse power for the skipper chap, and another for the other stuff... no make it 2 damn it...

does it not stand to reason that you need no more than say 4 or 5 horsepower on a wee dinghy to get a chap on the plane (on a reasonably chunky surfboard mind you).

so when people tell me they have a boat and i say "woohoo, lets go wakeboarding!!" and they tell me that they only have a 20hp motor... whats that all about???

has the "horsepower" reference lost all relevance to the actual pull a real horse can produce???

i see boats with 200 horsepower. imagine a mob of 200 real live horses, and then imagine harnessing them up to a 20 foot boat.... surely they would tear the fkn thing apart???

or am i ignorant of the difference between 'real output' and 'torque' and 'equine flatulence'....???

anyone got a clue???

The engine may output 200hp at the end of the flywheel. Most of that goes into turbulance around the prop, and water friction on the hull so only a fraction goes into accellerating the boat forward. Thats why a 200hp car can go over 200kph where as a 200hp boat cant.

PS. I can wakeboard behing my 30hp zodiac. Although technically there is no wake, and it gets boring pretty quickly.

mattyjee said...

craggers said...

so........

something has been on the back of my mind for years, and never made sense.

i tried to 'skurf' behind a 12hp dinghy once upon a time. it didnt really work, not enough power.

i now see that just "one horse power" is required to tow a person on the plane. so i do realise that in my experiment all those years back there was more mass than just me and the surfboard... there was a tinpot dinghy, a skipper in the dinghy... ok a fuel can, a few beers... the motor itself... surely if we throw in one more horse power for the skipper chap, and another for the other stuff... no make it 2 damn it...

does it not stand to reason that you need no more than say 4 or 5 horsepower on a wee dinghy to get a chap on the plane (on a reasonably chunky surfboard mind you).

so when people tell me they have a boat and i say "woohoo, lets go wakeboarding!!" and they tell me that they only have a 20hp motor... whats that all about???

has the "horsepower" reference lost all relevance to the actual pull a real horse can produce???

i see boats with 200 horsepower. imagine a mob of 200 real live horses, and then imagine harnessing them up to a 20 foot boat.... surely they would tear the fkn thing apart???

or am i ignorant of the difference between 'real output' and 'torque' and 'equine flatulence'....???

anyone got a clue???

The engine may output 200hp at the end of the flywheel. Most of that goes into turbulance around the prop, and water friction on the hull so only a fraction goes into accellerating the boat forward. Thats why a 200hp car can go over 200kph where as a 200hp boat cant.

PS. I can wakeboard behing my 30hp zodiac. Although technically there is no wake, and it gets boring pretty quickly.

If 20 horses where swimming and towing you it maybe more comparable

Just for a bit of fun till the wind comes in

wdric said...

Just for a bit of fun till the wind comes in

horsesome..... a "bit" of Hors d'œuvre kiting?

craggers said...

Good to see the tried and true attitude of experimentation which has produced virtually all of our beloved board/wind/snow/surf sports is alive and well.

i can only imagine the end goal is that elusive mythological aim of being towed along behind your loyal dolphin...

Loved it ! Still laughing .........................Thankyou! haha!